25) AGALLOCH – Ashes Against The Grain (2006)The list begins, fittingly, with one of the most anticipated metal releases of the decade. When early band interviews hinted at an array of new influences—from Fields Of The Nephilim to Swans to My Bloody Valentine to, for fuck’s sake, Kent—puritans were both baffled and suspicious, while others (such as myself) promptly began soiling themselves with glee. Finally, after many weeks and countless wash cycles, the album dropped in the autumn of 2006, with the end product being something that sounded a whole hell of a lot like... Agalloch. Yes, the new influences are obvious; take the first four minutes of “Limbs,” which wouldn’t seem out of place on an Explosions In The Sky record, or the seven-minute ambient track that closes it all out. What we’re left with is a “controversial” album that retains every bit of the double-negative-using, smoky-autumn-forest vibe that made everyone fall in love with these Oregonians in the first place (I’m not going to use the word “growth” here, I’m just not) while at the same time showcasing a band that over the span of ten years has become increasingly, uh, less-than-un-vivifying.
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